The Biggest Student Cities in Germany 2026: Ranking with Official Figures

Berlin has the most students in Germany: according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), 200,852 students were enrolled there in the winter semester 2024/25. Among the 72 cities we compared, Gießen has the highest student share, with 35,089 students and 89,179 residents, or 39.3%.

All figures in this ranking are official: student numbers come from the Destatis higher-education statistics, population figures from the official population estimate as of 31 December 2024. We left out distance-learning universities, because their students mostly don't live in the city where the university is registered. How exactly we counted is explained under Methodology and Sources.

Which City Has the Most Students?

Berlin leads clearly with 200,852 students, almost twice as many as Munich (110,366). Measured against its population, though, Berlin's share is small: 5.5%. Hamburg (96,301) and Cologne (95,903) follow almost level. Among the cities with more than a million residents, Cologne has the highest student share at 9.4%.

Munich would be considerably bigger if the Garching campus were included. But the 23,067 TU Munich students in Garching are located in the district of Munich (Landkreis München) and are not counted as part of the city.

The 15 Biggest Student Cities in Germany

Ranked by the number of students in the winter semester 2024/25. Each city links to local events.

Highest Student Share: The Top 10

Often more telling than raw size is density. In these ten cities there are at least 20 students for every 100 residents. That shapes rents, nightlife and how easily you find your people.

Gießen is the outlier: there are around 39 students for every 100 residents. Among cities with more than 100,000 residents, Göttingen has the highest share (26.1%); among those with more than 200,000, it's Aachen (22.0%).

Big City or High Density: Which Is Better?

Depends on what you want. Big cities (Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne) offer more choice: more degree programs, more events, more scenes to find your people in. The downside: it's easier to get lost, and distances are long. High density (Gießen, Tübingen, Marburg, Göttingen) means short distances, a student-shaped everything and constantly running into familiar faces. Good for settling in fast. The trade-off is a smaller scene.

Actually Meeting People in a Student City

A large student headcount doesn't automatically mean you'll find your people. The first semester can be lonely even in Berlin. What matters is visibility and repetition: showing up regularly where the same people appear. More on that in our guide to making friends in a new city. And if you're wondering which app helps (spoiler: not a dating app), see our comparison of friendship apps.

Methodology and Sources

• Students: all students at higher-education institutions located in the city, winter semester 2024/25. Where the city forms its own district, this is the district value from the Regional Database. Otherwise it is the sum of the university sites in the city from Destatis table 21311-12, for example for Gießen, Marburg, Göttingen, Tübingen, Konstanz, Hannover and Aachen.
• Distance-learning universities excluded: their students are counted where the university is registered, but mostly study remotely or online from elsewhere. Among others, we subtracted IU International University in Erfurt (105,984), HFH Hamburger Fern-Hochschule (14,265) and Euro-FH (10,610) in Hamburg, AKAD Hochschule in Stuttgart (6,633), DHfPG in Saarbrücken (6,179), DIPLOMA Hochschule in Kassel (5,578), IST-Hochschule in Düsseldorf (4,797), APOLLON Hochschule in Bremen (4,409), Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule in Darmstadt (4,313) and Steinbeis Hochschule in Magdeburg (4,053).
• Not subtracted: universities with on-site or hybrid study, such as FOM in Essen (11,462), PFH in Göttingen (4,315) and FHM in Bielefeld (3,670). These figures are included in the tables.
• City limits: only what lies within the city counts. Munich without the Garching campus, Bonn without Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (Sankt Augustin and Rheinbach are in the Rhein-Sieg district), Aachen without the Jülich campus of FH Aachen, Tübingen without the forestry university in Rottenburg.
• Population: as of 31 December 2024 (official estimate based on the 2022 census). The share is students divided by residents. It measures density, but doesn't tell you how many residents are students: many students commute from the surrounding area or are registered elsewhere.
• Selection: we compare the 72 German cities for which we have a city page. Smaller university towns outside this list are not included.

Sources: Destatis, Statistical Report on Students at Higher-Education Institutions, winter semester 2024/25 (table 21311-12); Regional Database Germany, table 21311-01-01-4 (students by district); Regional Database Germany, table 12411-01-01-5 (population by municipality).

Common Questions

Which city in Germany has the most students? Berlin, with 200,852 students in the winter semester 2024/25. It is followed by Munich (110,366), Hamburg (96,301) and Cologne (95,903).

Which city has the highest student share? Among the 72 cities compared, Gießen: 35,089 students and 89,179 residents, or 39.3%. Next come Tübingen (30.6%) and Marburg (28.2%).

Which large city has the highest student share? Among cities with more than 100,000 residents, Göttingen with 26.1%, followed by Würzburg (24.5%) and Heidelberg (23.7%). Among cities with more than 200,000 residents, Aachen leads with 22.0%.

Is Erfurt a big student city? On paper, yes: Destatis counts 116,040 students for Erfurt. But 105,984 of them are enrolled at IU International University, which mainly offers distance and online study and is registered in Erfurt. At the universities on site, 10,056 people study, which is 4.6% of the population.

Why does Munich have fewer students than often quoted? Because TU Munich's Garching campus, with 23,067 students, is not in the city but in the district of Munich. The city itself has 110,366.

Where do the figures come from? Students: Destatis, winter semester 2024/25. Population: as of 31 December 2024. Distance-learning universities are excluded. Details and links are in the section Methodology and Sources.

Whichever city you choose, you settle in through people, not through the headcount. Join the S'Up waitlist and find events and people in your city.

All 72 Cities at a Glance

All 72 cities, ranked by number of students (winter semester 2024/25, excluding distance-learning universities), with population as of 31 December 2024 and student share.